Colorado Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland announced assistant coach Ray Bennett had moved on from the team to open their postseason press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Coach Ray Bennett has been fired from the Avs coaching staff #Avs #GoAvsGo @HockeyMtnHighCO

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan-vogt.bsky.social) 2025-05-06T19:05:14.942Z

Bennett had been an assistant on the team since 2017, running the power play. After going stagnant in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, his time has come to an end. The team went 3-for-22 on the man advantage in the series loss against the Dallas Stars.

Joined by President of Hockey Operations and Avalanche legend Joe Sakic, MacFarland also addressed the absence of Ross Colton from the lineup after Game One. Colton suffered a major groin pull. Outside of that, no other injuries were detailed on the team aside from a few “bumps and bruises.”

GM Chris MacFarland announced that Ross Colton had "major groin pull" in Game One #Avs #GoAvsGo @HockeyMtnHighCO

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan-vogt.bsky.social) 2025-05-06T19:10:04.029Z

 

Overall, the team believed they had all the right pieces. Sakic mentioned several times how the environment and mentality were similar to the team in 2022. With high-end talent, they believe the window is still open with 100% confidence in Jared Bednar.

Bringing in depth, such as Brock Nelson, benefited them, they said. They will look to extend him depending on his exit interview. The team said they won’t hold a small sample size against him in negotiations in a disastrous first-round loss.

While it’s a long time until the Avs play hockey again, there will still be some participants to watch. MacFarland stated Nathan MacKinnon will play in the World Championships with Team Canada. He also said Martin Necas would play for the Czech Republic. However, it sounded as though Gabriel Landeskog would not suit up for Sweden, and there would be no other Avalanche participants.

They also touched on prospects Mikhail Gulyayev and Ilya Nabokov. Gulyayev has one more year in the KHL. The team stated they will work with Nabokov’s team to bring him over to North America.

In the end, not much else came out of the press conference. The entire press conference is linked below. Colorado will now enter a long summer of wondering what could have been as they prepare for the 2025-26 season.